Coming Up: July 12
Council meets on Monday. The most significant items on our agenda:
Snow & Ice control Policy
Community Group Funding
Coordinated Care Campus
Following is more information and my take on agenda items.
As always, any mistakes or opinions belong to me and me alone, not to Council or City staff.
While I express my current views below, I work hard to go into meetings ready to listen and with an open mind. I learn new information and participate in debate. This always informs, and sometimes changes, how I vote on issues.
If you would like to watch the meeting or read any of its supporting material for yourself, you can do so by clicking here. The City will post the highlights of Council’s decisions here.
SNOW/ICE CONTROL
The current Snow & Ice Control Policy was adopted in 2014. In the midst of a year of heavy snow fall, the operations dictated by the former Policy broke down. To respond, this new Policy was adopted very quickly with no public consultation.
Since it was adopted, some operational changes have been made. Most notably:
Windrows: the Policy calls for windrows to be left across driveways. In 2017, Council directed that these get removed by City contracted crews.
Starting on Priority routes: the Policy states that removal on Priority 1 roads shouldn’t start until there is 7.5cm of accumulated snow, and removal on Priority 2 & 3 routes shouldn’t commence until 10cm of snow. However, plows are typically sent out onto priority roads at the start of a snowfall, as soon as snow starts accumulating.
Administration is proposing amendments to the Snow & Ice Control Policy to bring it in line with current operations. You can see the suggested revisions here.
While I do not have fundamental objections to the revised policy, I am unlikely to support it.
Snow and Ice Control is an expensive program which uses about 5% of the City’s tax revenue. According to the City’s Citizen Satisfaction Survey, it is also something that residents see as highly important and dis-satisfying.
You can click here to see what I have been saying about snow removal since before I got elected. But the short of it: I think that Snow Removal Policy should get a thorough review which includes public engagement, benchmarking what we do against other northern municipalities, and pricing out of alternative service levels.
At our meeting, I’ll be making a motion to initiate this type of review. I do not think that Council should be updating the Snow & Ice Control Policy until a proper review has occurred.
COMMUNITY GROUP FUNDING
This Council term, a lot of discussion has been put into funding that Council gives to Community Groups.
Previously, funding was given in multiple different ways. Some funding was approved by Administration and contained within department budgets. Some funding was given through grants, some of which were approved by Council, some by Council Committees, some by resident Committees, some by Administration. And yet more funding was allocated directly by Council outside of a regular grant program.
Council wasn’t comfortable with this process. It lacked transparency to the public and proper strategic oversight by Council. It was also complicated, expensive and time consuming for groups to access funding and for City Administration to oversee it.
Community Group funding was brought into two main buckets:
Grants administered by the Community Advisory Committee, which is a Committee made up of residents
Funding allocated directly by Council on two year cycles
The funding allocated directly by Council has created a lot of debate. In the interest of reducing taxes, some Councillors have made it a priority to reduce Community Group Funding. Others have prioritized making sure that community organisations can continue having sustainable funding to deliver their programs. Council is often close to evenly split on Community Group Funding votes. You can see my take on previous debates here.
Earlier this year, Council Committee of the Whole met to debate 2022/23 Community Group Funding. During this meeting, I was on both the winning and losing side of votes. But it was a robust debate that I thought was fairly conducted.
On Monday, Council will be deciding whether it will ratify the recommendations from Committee of the Whole or make changes. While I’m open to discussion, I will tend to support the recommendations made by Committee unless there is new information that is brought to Council.
COORDINATED CARE CAMPUS
Council will be debating whether or not to approve the proposed Coordinated Care Campus to provide 120 Supportive Housing units.
I’ve written in depth about it here: I’d encourage you to check that page out. Because I’ve got that page, I will be very brief on my views here:
Our current approach to homelessness is not working. It is very expensive, isn’t giving people realistic options to get off the streets, and is leaving social disorder in our public areas. We need a new approach.
I am strongly in favour of Supportive Housing as a concept. If people show interest and capability for getting healthy, they need a place to live and get support if they are to have any realistic hope of getting off the streets. Supportive Housing also carries much lower costs to the taxpayer than Emergency Shelters and all the interventions that are needed due to Chronic Homelessness.
But being in favour generally of Supportive Housing is not the same as being in favour of a specific project. There are still a number of questions I need answers to before I know whether or not I’ll support the Coordinated Care Campus.
That’s what is on our agenda for Monday. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
You can comment below. Or, you can contact me at dbressey@cityofgp.com or 780-402-4166. I'm happy to talk online or over the phone. I'm also always willing to setup a time to meet for coffee.
We also always have great conversation in the GP Round Table group on Facebook.
After Council meeting, you will be able to find highlights posted by the City here.
Thanks for reading!
-Dylan